Jeff Derderian is a familiar name and face to TV viewers in
eastern New England. Your editor remembers him from his
early-nineties days behind the scenes at WBZ-TV (Channel 4) in
Boston (when yours truly was toiling, equally behind the scenes,
across the building at WBZ radio); later, he would work for WLNE
(Channel 6) in the Providence market and then for five years as a
reporter for Boston's WHDH-TV (Channel 7).

And, as the whole world knows by now, Jeff had just departed
WHDH for a job closer to his Rhode Island home, starting just
weeks ago at WPRI (Channel 12) in Providence. He's been off the
air there since Thursday night (when, ironically, he was working
on a WPRI story about nightclub safety, using his own club as a
source of B-roll video), and we wonder whether he'll ever be able
to work in the region again -- assuming, of course, that he
and his brother don't end up facing criminal charges for the fire.
More on this in the next few weeks, we're sure.

As we go to press Monday afternoon, meanwhile, among the
dozens of people missing and presumed dead is Michael Gonsalves,
the WHJY (94.1 Providence) overnight jock known on air as "The
Doctor."

The Clear Channel rocker was promoting the Great White show
at Derderian's Station nightclub. In addition to Gonsalves, who
introduced the band just minutes before the pyrotechnics went off,
several WHJY promotions staffers were inside the building but
escaped safely.

WHJY simulcast sister station WHJJ (920 Providence)'s news
coverage of the tragedy for much of Friday, then resumed its own
programming with live airshifts all weekend to allow listeners to
call in and share their grief and concern.

Two other concertgoers who were confirmed dead over the
weekend had broadcast ties as well. Dale Latulippe, whose name
was among the first to be announced Saturday, was the son of
former WRKO newsman Don Latulippe. Dale Latulippe was a drummer
and a father of a seven year old; he was 46 years old. Also among
the dead was 21 year old James Gehan of Falmouth, Mass., a DJ at
Nichols College campus station WNRC (95.1 Dudley, Mass.).

TUESDAY UPDATE: WHJY is now reporting that Gonsalves' body
has now been identified as being among the dead; our deepest
condolences go out to his co-workers and family. And we send our
best wishes as well to Don Latulippe, who was hospitalized after
suffering an angina attack early this morning, but hopes to be out
of the hospital in time for his son's funeral on Friday.

At the other end of the dial, WWZN (1510 Boston) ditched the
Mike Adams morning show after just three months; the station is
back to Sporting News Radio in that daypart (pulling Adams off the
air one hour into his show when the news broke in the Boston
Herald last Tuesday) while negotiating with Mike Andelman (son of
Eddie) to take over wakeups there. As for Adams' planned on-air
wedding in April? We'll keep you posted....

On the TV side, the FCC granted a license to cover this week
for WHDN-LP (Channel 26), a new Boston LPTV licensed to one
Guenter Marksteiner of Florida. WHDN-LP was formerly W26CM and
before that W23AM, licensed to Laconia NH. It looks as though
WHDN-LP will be transmitting from a building near the Fleet Center
in the old West End -- possibly the roof of the Tip O'Neill
Federal Building -- with 8200 watts into a directional
antenna.

NERW was in New York over the weekend, and we noticed one
station missing from the dial at our usual Rockland County
listening post: W232AL (94.3 Pomona), the Rockland link in the
now-defunct "Jukebox Radio" chain, appears to have gone silent for
now. W276AQ (103.1 Fort Lee NJ) is still simulcasting Cox oldies
outlet WKHL (96.7 Stamford), just as it was doing the last time we
were down that way a month or so ago.

Up in Westchester, Radio &
Records is reporting that Nassau is spinning
newly-acquired WYNY (107.1 Briarcliff Manor) to Pamal, which will
use it as a simulcast to extend the reach of Poughkeepsie CHR WSPK
(104.7) to the south. More on this next
week....

Way out on Long Island, one Isabel Sepulveda has asked the
FCC to allocate 103.3 to Water Mill as a class A channel. NERW
notes that this would knock out WSHU translator W277AB in Noyock;
we also note that there are still two unbuilt class A channels on
the East End -- 92.9 Southampton, for which AAA has a CP as
WCSO, and 94.9 Montauk, for which the old CP as WVZC expired a few
years back.

Heading upstate, we can put a price on Concord's sale of
WBPM (94.3 Kingston) to Cumulus: $3.5 million was the pricetag for
the oldies outlet.

Rochester's WHAM (1180) shifted its schedule last week,
extending the syndicated Michael Savage show to 11 PM and wiping
out Curt Smith's hour of local talk from 10-11.

Niagara Falls' WJJL (1440) is having a bad week; the
station's parent company, M.J. Phillips Communications, filed for
Chapter 11 bankruptcy, citing debts of over $180,000 and assets of
just $67,000.

One other bit of western New York news (we're too buried in
snow here to generate much more!) comes from the Buffalo TV scene,
where little WNGS (Channel 67) in Springville, having already lost
its UPN affiliation, has now had its latest application for a
power boost dismissed. The station held a CP to go from its
present flea power (just enough to get to a receiver south of
Buffalo that feeds area cable systems by fiber) to a full 5
megawatts; that CP expired at the end of 2002. The latest
application would have put WNGS on a directional antenna mounted
on the Colden tower of WKBW-TV (Channel 7).

And we're sorry to report the passing last Monday (Feb. 17)
of Jim Gordon, one of the best-known news voices in New York City
for decades. Gordon was the news director at WINS (1010) when it
switched to an all-news format in 1965 (and the first voice heard
on WINS as an all-news station) and was later the news director at
WNEW (1130) for many years. From 1977 until 1994, Gordon was the
radio voice of the New York Giants, just one of many sports for
which he did play-by-play over the years. Gordon was 76.

The FCC approved four new LPFMs in the Keystone State: 102.9
Chambersburg, to "Dack Inc.," 103.5 La Plume, to Keystone College;
103.7 Indiana, to "Godstock" and 104.9 Shawnee-on-Delaware, to
Shawnee Presbyterian Church.

In Pittsburgh, John Cline is back on the air, but not at
WBZZ (93.7); instead, the longtime B94 morning jock moves down the
hall to do mornings at Infinity hot AC WZPT (100.7 New
Kensington).

Right on the Ohio state line, WPAO (1470 Farrell) has
changed calls to WLOA, the old call on 1550 in Braddock (today's
WURP); we don't know what other changes might accompany the call
shift at the Youngstown-market outlet.

Speaking of Youngstown, WHKW (1440 Warren) has dropped its
simulcast of sister WHK (1220 Cleveland), switching instead to a
simulcast of another Salem outlet, WCCD (1000 Parma), which has
just flipped to a secular talk format as "the Voice."